Umnogobi province in southern Mongolia is one of Mongolia?s largest provinces, with a population density of only 0.3 people per sq km. The few people who live here are of the Khaikh ethnic group. It's not hard to see why humans prefer to live elsewhere. With an average annual precipitation of only 130mm a year, and summer temperatures reaching an average of up to 38°C, this is the driest, hottest and harshest region in the country.

The world famous Gobi desert is located in this province where the Khongor sand dunes stretch for 36 square miles (92,5 sq. km.), and are 115 miles (185km) in length and the 12 miles (20 km.) wide. The desert is also famous for being the birth place of modern palaeontology where many dinosaur skeletons and fossils have been found including the world's first dinosaur eggs, which were found at the Flaming Cliffs by American Roy Chapman Andrews in 1923.

I spent a few days in this region at the end of my 12-day tour around Mongolia. We first visited the Flaming Cliffs, 120km northwest of the provincial capital, Dalanzadgad, before heading to Khongor sand dunes and Yolyn Am - a valley in the middle of the Gobi Desert, with metres-thick ice almost all year-round.